Manipulashipping (Marik x Anzu)


The quiet sound of dirt crumbling down steps alerted Anzu to his presence first. She turned away from the paintings on the dusty, cracking stone walls, expecting Jonouchi or Yugi, or maybe even Ryo or Honda.

But the shape that was walking carefully down the crumbling old steps was none other than Marik Ishtar.

"Oh," Anzu said. "Marik-kun."

"Hey," Marik said, raising a hand in greeting and stirring the dust floating in the single beam of light coming down the stairs. "Your friends said you were down here."

Anzu half smiled.

"It's nice down here...cool. Quiet."

"Mm. I'm not a fan."

He raised his hand to touch the fading Egyptian paintings. Anzu hesitated, playing with the hem of her skirt. She had never really talked to Marik. Even after Battle City, they hadn't had much time before he returned to Egypt. She couldn't help but feel a little bit...nervous. They were the only ones in this old Egyptian tunnel, and she could not forget the slimy, horrible, buzzing feeling from when he had forced his way into her mind and controlled it.

"You okay?" Marik asked, breaking the silence.

"I...guess," Anzu said.

Her eyes wandered to the shape of the spiky haired pharaoh, and dropped away.

"Marik-kun, thank you for being concerned about me," she said. "But...I think I just need to be alone for a little while. And...and I can't imagine it's very easy for you to come down...to a place like this again."

Marik shrugged. But there was a slight flinch in his hands at her words. He dropped his hands from the walls.

"You're...right," he said. "There's no love lost between me and this place."

Anzu felt guilty, then. She had brought up something that maybe he didn't want to think about. She couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for him to come down here after however many years of horrors he had faced.

"Mazaki-san," Marik said. "Listen. I...I just...kind of wanted to talk to you for a minute. Is that okay?"

Anzu hesitated. But then she let out her breath and tried to give him a smile. If he had come down into the tunnels for that, it must be important.

"Sure," she said. "It's no problem."

Marik smiled, but it seemed almost a little nervous.

"I...well, first, I really wanted to apologize," he said. "I didn't get a chance to talk to you before...and I know, really, you can't forgive me for what I did to you – and I don't think you should. I...I would have killed you."

Anzu took a breath, but then decided not to speak. Marik continued, not noticing her hesitation.

"And...and I wanted to tell you...thank you."

Anzu blinked.

"For what?"

"For...well..."

It was hard to tell in the dim light of the tunnel, but she thought he might be blushing a little. He rubbed the back of his neck.

"You're...you're so strong, Mazaki-san," he said. "When I...tried to control you, you know, I almost couldn't. You fought me off."

His hand dropped back to his side. A silence grew for a moment. Anzu squeezed her hands together, barely believing.

"I'm...I'm not strong," she said. "Not like...not like everyone else."

"No, but you are," Marik insisted. "You and Jonouchi-san and Honda-san and Yugi...all of you are so, so strong. I noticed it from the very beginning that the pharaoh had surrounded himself with people that had such strong, good hearts...and part of it made me angry, you know? That someone I hated was surrounded by such good people. I told myself that you weren't as good or strong as you seemed...or that he was manipulating you somehow...but nothing I did...could stop you all from supporting each other."

"Marik-kun..."

"Mazaki-san," Marik said. "Part of my soul spent a long time in your head. I've seen...you've seen horrible things. You've been targeted by everything because of the people you're associated with, and not for a second did you step away from them."

Anzu felt a lump grow in her throat.

"Marik-kun, no," she said. "I'm not strong. I just don't know how to step away."

"But would you, if you did?" Marik said.

Anzu opened her mouth to answer, but no sound came out. Marik's startling purple eyes met hers. She closed her mouth. She shook her head.

"I guess...not," she said.

"I think it was you that convinced me, though," Marik said, dropping his eyes. "That I could...trust him. The pharaoh. In those last moments, when I begged him to destroy my other half, and he said that he would save me no matter what...it was your trust that made me believe in him."

He kicked a stone.

"So thank you, Anzu Mazaki. I tried to hurt you and your friends, but...you were the one that helped me find the will to live again."

And for a brief, blinding moment, Anzu remembered. She remembered the feeling of Marik's small, broken soul huddling in the corner of her soul room, the tiny snippets of horrible dark memories that she had glimpsed from his eyes. She saw the boy in front of her and wondered for dizzying moment how he could still be standing. There was something a little broken in his stance, now, as though letting that burden off his soul had left him disoriented.

Anzu felt tears pricking at her eyes. This boy was so much stronger than he thought. And maybe she was stronger than she thought. Maybe...maybe they could only notice it in each other.

She stepped forward and reached to place her hand on top of his.

"Marik-kun," she said. "I think...that you're very strong, too."

Marik flinched for a moment at her touch. Then he relaxed. He let out a long, slow breath.

"Thank you, Mazaki-san," he said.

"Call me Anzu," Anzu said.

Marik glanced at her from under his bangs. Anzu felt a smile grow across her face. He returned her smile with a tentative grin. Then he slid his hand over hers and gripped it.

"Anzu, then," he said. "I know you said you wanted to be alone. But will you trust me when I say that this dusty old tomb is no place be for that?"

Anzu smiled.

"All right," she said. "I think you know the best about that."

He smiled back. With his hand still in hers, the strange pair left the darkness of the tomb behind. They climbed the thin staircase, and together, walked into the light.


A/N: I could ship this if I wasn't such a Peachshipper. Next up is Mallowshipping (Ryo x Ishizu x Shizuka).